CRT Isn't in the Curriculum, It's the Language of the Curriculum

[xotrevor]

The organized, political Left lies... a lot. And the organized political Left in the media (reporters, editors, producers, anchors, pundits, etc.) lie more audaciously than even their counterparts in elected office.

One of the most damnable and bald-faced lies coming out of the Virginia election this year has been the mantra that "Critical Race Theory is not in the curriculum" at government-run schools.

When the ill-fated Terry McAuliffe campaign started to veer off the rails this summer, it began with the erstwhile Clinton bagman proclaimed CRT was a "right-wing conspiracy" that was "totally made up by Donald Trump and Glenn Youngkin."

The media then took this talking point and incorporated it into every segment where the topic of parents' rights and input in the education of their children in public schools was raised as the hot topic in the election that it clearly was.

"CRT is not in the curriculum," we kept hearing over and over again. Yamiche Alcindor of PBS (you pay her salary, thank you very much) even used it as an accepted fact when she asked President Biden about CRT as an issue in the Virginia election results (emphasis added):

"What's your message, though, for Democratic voters, especially black voters who see Republicans running on race, education, lying about critical race theory, and they're worried Democrats don't have an effective way to push back on that?"

The constant repetitive refrain that "CRT is a lie" reached its pinnacle (or nadir) in an absurd segment with Florida Senator Rick Scott.

"It's not part of the curriculum," Brianna Keilar interjected when Scott pointed out that CRT was a driving issue in the Republican sweep last week. Scott also brought receipts.

SCOTT: Oh Brianna, would you like me to--here let me just read you a few things. In 2015, Terry McAuliffe as governor, the Virginia Department of Education promoting incorporating a Critical Race Theory lens in education. You can still find it on the Department of Education's website, still there.

KEILAR: It’s not part of the--Senator--it’s not

SCOTT: In February 2019 a superintendent memo to the Virginia Department of Education promoting Critical Race Theory and the idea of white fragility.

KEILAR: [frustrated] It’s not, it’s not part of the curriculum.

SCOTT: I just saw it there yesterday. It’s still there, Brianna!

KEILAR: I do want to ask you, just to be clear --

SCOTT: Wait, let's all agree. They were trying to indoctrinate kids, Terry McAuliffe denied it. It's still on the website. It is. This is happening. And I hope Democrats continue to say it's not happening, because parents aren't dumb. They can see it.

KEILAR: You're saying parents are dumb? You said? Aren't dumb?

SCOTT: No, they're not. I think parents are smart. My parents didn't have much of a formal education, but they cared about what I learned--

KEILAR: I just, I just want to be clear, Senator I just have to be clear, it’s not

It went on and on.

Even in the face of documented evidence of CRT employed by the Virginia Department of Education to instruct teachers to use CRT in their lesson plans, all Keilar and her colleagues can say is the futile mantra "it's not part of the curriculum."

Perhaps they're trying to hang their hats on a very narrow, semantic argument here. Since there isn't a "Critical Race Theory 101" class in your local elementary school, they believe they can claim CRT isn't in the curriculum.

But it is a deception not worthy of the best liars in the media.

For instance, it's accurate to say in your local school's math curriculum, English is not taught, right? When teaching arithmetic or long division (do they still teach long division?) or even advanced trigonometry, your kids' favorite math teacher does not teach English composition or grammar or anything else related to the English language.

So, it is fair to say that English is not in the math curriculum. But, English is used to communicate the math curriculum. It is the language and framework recommended to convey the math curriculum.

That is how CRT has infiltrated the government school lesson plans. CRT is the language used to instruct.

When a vocabulary or spelling lesson involves learning the words "whiteness," "privilege" and "oppressor," CRT is being used as the language and framework of the spelling lesson.

When a reading lesson provides a selection of books all focusing on "racial justice" for next week's book report, CRT is being used as the language and framework for that reading lesson plan.

When the Seattle school system divided its math instruction into themes of "Origins, Identity, and Agency"; "Power and Oppression"; "History of Resistance and Liberation"; and "Reflection and Action," they have moved well beyond 2+2=4 and have adopted CRT as the language and framework for the math lesson plans.

No, CRT is not in the curriculum of these schools. It is woven into the very fabric of the curriculum of these schools.

It would be easy to opt out of the CRT class. It's a lot harder to disentangle the Critical Race Theory philosophy... no, ideology, from every part of the language and framework in the curriculum of nearly every class your kid takes at the school you pay for and apparently aren't allowed to have any input in.

Hell, they've even written papers about a critical race pedagogy of physical education. Yup... racially polarized gym class is part of this insidious reality.

Of course, CRT is in your schools. You've seen it yourself in your kids' books and the lessons they were taught all year at your kitchen table via Zoom.

It's one thing to indoctrinate your kids in this destructive and divisive teaching. It's another for everyone from your teachers to your school boards to your governors to your cable news hosts to lie about it.

Larry O'Connor
Town Hall